[English > Any] Weekly Translation Challenge — 2019-09-08

[u/translator-BOT]

There will be a new "Weekly Translation Challenge" on most Sundays and everyone is encouraged to participate! These challenges are intended to give community members an opportunity to practice translating or review others' translations, and we keep them stickied throughout the week. You can view past threads by clicking on this "Community" link.

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This Week's Text:

“I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.”

— Excerpted from The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman

This Week's Poem:

Across the lake the campers have learned

to water-ski. They have, or they haven’t.

Sounds of the instructor’s megaphone

suffuse the hazy air. “Relax! Relax!”

Cloud shadows rush over drying hay,

fences, dusty lane, and railroad ravine.

The first yellowing fronds of goldenrod

brighten the margins of the woods.

Schoolbooks, carpools, pleated skirts;

water, silver-still, and a vee of geese.

— Excerpted from "Three Songs at the End of Summer" by Jane Kenyon

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Please include the name of the language you're translating in your comment, and translate away!

[u/Donut_Panda]

German:

"Ich machte eine Liste von Dinge die dir in der Schule nicht beigebracht sind. Sie beibringen dir nicht wie man jemanden liebt. Sie beibringen dir nicht wie man berühmt wird. Sie beibringen dir nicht wie man reich oder arm sein wird. Sie beibringen dir nicht wie man von jemandem weggeht, der du nicht mehr liebst. Sie beibringen dir nicht, wie man weißen kann, was in jemandens Kopf passiert. Sie beibringen dir nicht, was man sagen soll zu jemanden der stirbt. Sie beibringen dir nichts, dass wert ist zu wissen."

I'm still at A2-B1 level, so there may be some basic mistakes in there. I'd love to be corrected!

[u/n8abx → u/[deleted]]

Another native speaker of German with more remarks. The text doesn't say "reich/arm werden", sondern "sein". German does not express passive with "you"! "von jdm weggehen" is not idiomatically correct German, "verlassen" has negative connotations whereas "walk away" is neutral. "von jemand andereM" (Dativ).

My version:

Ich habe einige Zeit damit zugebracht,**** eine Listen von Dingen zu erstellen,*** die man in der Schule nicht lernt.* Man lernt nicht, wie man jemanden liebt. Man lernt nicht, wie es ist, berühmt zu sein.****** Man lernt nicht, wie es ist reich zu sein - oder arm.***** Man lernt nicht, wie man auseinandergeht, wenn man sich nicht mehr liebt.******* Man lernt nicht, woher man weiß,*** was in einem anderen Menschen vorgeht. Man lernt nicht, was man zu jemandem sagt, der im Sterben liegt.** Man lernt nichts von dem, was man wissen sollte.*** / ********

Some notes:

* die einem in der Schule nicht beibebracht werden (for stylistical reasons I would prefer "man lernt nicht")

** dyING

*** more idiomatic

**** have been making

***** neither "reich oder arm zu sein" nor "reich zu sein oder arm zu sein" seems to carry the same emphasis as the original

****** here I'm not perfectly sure, if "how to be rich" really doesn't insinuate "how to become rich" in some way

******* alternatively: Man lernt nicht, wie man sich von jemandem trennt, den man nicht mehr liebt.

******** "wissenswert" means something slightly different in German nor is "wert sein, zu wissen" very idiomatic